If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You will have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

[PF Base Class] Red Mage (PEACH!)

Red Mage

Goals: I'm looking to bring the Red Mage from Final Fantasy XI (see http://ffxi.gamerescape.com/wiki/RDM for more information than you could possibly ever want) into Pathfinder. I think I have something viable, but I believe my current iteration is probably too powerful and could use some gentle nerfing. The main design goal is to make the Red Mage a passable soloist, in a game that encourages party play, so I can run a solo campaign with a friend.

Design Approach: The Final Fantasy Red Mage is notable for its speedy spellcasting, jack-of-all-trades design, and incredible solo survivability due to key abilities that ensure the Red Mage never runs out of magic. Red Mages are decently capable in melee and can cast from lesser versions of both the white mage (cleric) and black mage (sorcerer/wizard) spell lists. For the Pathfinder conversion, I started with the Bard, using everything except its class abilities. I added access to all sorcerer/wizard spells, and using a "bloodline"-like progression added extra spells, feats, and abilities to give the Red Mage its needed flavor.

GAME RULE INFORMATIONAbilities: The Red Mage relies on Charisma for spellcasting and to determine how often many of her defining abilities can be used. Constitution not only determines the Red Mage's survivability in terms of physical health, but once the Convert ability is acquired Constitution can affect the Red Mage's magical longevity. If the Red Mage ever wishes to wander into melee, Strength and Dexterity are always useful.

Alignment: While most Red Mages are chaotic, as a reflection of their spontaneous nature and dabbling in a multitude of different arts, Red Mages can be found of any alignment.

Class Features
All of the following are class features of the Red Mage.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A Red Mage is proficient with all simple weapons, plus the longsword, rapier, sap, short sword, shortbow, and whip. Red Mages are also proficient with light armor and shields (except tower shields). A Red Mage can cast Red Mage spells while wearing light armor and using a shield without incurring the normal arcane spell failure chance. Like any other arcane spellcaster, a Red Mage wearing medium or heavy armor incurs a chance of arcane spell failure if the spell in question has a somatic component. A multiclass Red Mage still incurs the normal arcane spell failure chance for arcane spells received from other classes.

Spells (this is exactly the same as a bard, but casting from the sorcerer/wizard spell list)

Spoiler

Show

A Red Mage casts arcane spells drawn from the sorcerer/wizard spell list. She can cast any spell he knows without preparing it ahead of time. To learn or cast a spell, a Red Mage must have a Charisma score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a Red Mage's spell is 10 + the spell level + the Red Mage’s Charisma modifier.

Like other spellcasters, a Red Mage can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. Her base daily spell allotment is given above. In addition, she receives bonus spells per day if she has a high Charisma score.

The Red Mage’s selection of spells is extremely limited. A Red Mage begins play knowing four 0-level spells and two 1st-level spells of the Red Mage’s choice. At each new Red Mage level, she gains one or more new spells, as indicated on the table below. (Unlike spells per day, the number of spells a Red Mage knows is not affected by her Charisma score.

Upon reaching 5th level, and at every third Red Mage level after that (8th, 11th, and so on), a Red Mage can choose to learn a new spell in place of one she already knows. In effect, the Red Mage “loses” the old spell in exchange for the new one. The new spell’s level must be the same as that of the spell being exchanged, and it must be at least one level lower than the highest-level Red Mage spell the Red Mage can cast. A Red Mage may swap only a single spell at any given level, and must choose whether or not to swap the spell at the same time that she gains new spells known for the level.

A Red Mage need not prepare her spells in advance. She can cast any spell she knows at any time, assuming she has not yet used up her allotment of spells per day for the spell’s level.

Cantrips (Sp): Red Mages learn a number of cantrips, or 0-level spells, as noted in their Spells Known. These spells are cast like any other spell, but they do not consume any slots and may be used again.

Dia (Sp): At first level, you can fire a nonelemental ray as a standard action, targeting any foe within 30 feet as a ranged touch attack. This ray deals 1 damage every round and reduces the target's AC by 2 for 1d4 rounds + 1 for every two Red Mage levels you possess. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Charisma modifier. At 6th level, this ability may be done as a move action, and at 12th level as a swift action. Multiple uses of this ability on the same target do not stack, nor can the target's AC be reduced by any more than 2 from usage of this ability.

Enspell (Sp): Starting at 3rd level, you can enhance your weapon as a standard action. The weapon gains one of the following weapon properties: corrosive, flaming, frost, shock, or thundering. If the weapon property already exists on the weapon, the effect does not stack. This enhancement lasts for a number of rounds per day equal to your Red Mage levels plus your Charisma modifier. These rounds need not be consecutive. At 6th level, this ability may be done as a move action, and at 12th level as a swift action.

Fast Cast I (Su): At 6th level, the Red Mage can cast spells with a casting time of a standard action using only a move action. This ability does not allow the Red Mage to cast an additional spell as a standard action in the same round.

Convert (Su): At 9th level, as a move action, the Red Mage may "swap" their current hit points and their available spell slots. Each available spell slot is worth 1 hit point per level of spell. Their hit points is immediately changed to the number of hit points their available spell slots converts to, and the Red Mage is wiped of all available spell slots. Then, spell slots are restored, from lowest level to highest, to correspond to the Red Mage's old amount of hit points. The Red Mage may not be restored to more than their maximum number of hit points or spell slots using this ability. The Red Mage does not suffer from any Massive Damage rules from using this ability. If the Red Mage has no spell slots available, then they must save vs. Fortitude, DC 15, or immediately fall to -1 hit points. On success, the ability is wasted. Any "fractional" spell levels from converted hit points are lost. At 12th level, this ability may be done as a swift action. This ability may be used once per day.

Refresh (Su): At 11th level, as a swift action, the Red Mage may sacrifice a 3rd level spell slot. Every three rounds, a spell slot of 1st level is restored. If all spell slots of 1st level are already available, then higher level spell slots may be restored (the lowest available spell slot is always restored first), but it takes a number rounds to do so equal to 3 * the spell slot level. This ability lasts for 30 rounds (3 minutes). This ability may be used a number of times per day equal to 1 + your Charisma modifier. Using Refresh while Refresh is already in effect cancels the previous Refresh effect, although spell slots already restored stay restored.

Fast Cast II (Su): At 12th level, the Red Mage only requires three additional spell levels to enhance a spell using the Quicken Spell metamagic feat.

Fast Cast III (Su): At 18th level, the Red Mage only requires two additional spell levels to enhance a spell using the Quicken Spell metamagic feat.

Chainspell (Su): At 20th level, the Red Mage reaches the pinnacle of quickened spellcasting. Activating Chainspell takes a swift action. While Chainspell is in effect, the Red Mage's spells cast as a move action do not prevent the Red Mage from casting spells as a standard action in the same round. In addition, usage of the Quicken Spell metamagic feat requires no additional spell levels. This ability lasts a number of rounds equal to 3 + your Charisma modifier. This ability may be used once per day.

Last edited by Malizia; 2011-05-06 at 02:04 AM.
Reason: updating Fast Cast I to only work on spells with a standard action casting time

Re: [PF Base Class] Red Mage (PEACH!)

Completed ClassesThe Grandmaster : A master of animated stattuettes and tactical magic. High tier 3.The Hidden Word: An infiltrator with a wide range of abilities that works best in small teams. Tier 2-3Web-Spinner: A martial class based around using webs. Mid T3.The True Warrior: A swift mundane martial combat class that can dodge and slice their way to victory. Low Tier 3.

Re: [PF Base Class] Red Mage (PEACH!)

Ooooh, nice table there. Is there a place where I can just cut and paste information into a premade table, like a template, or did you build that all from scratch just for this thread? Because if it's the latter, then I commend you for going through the headache of table design.

Re: [PF Base Class] Red Mage (PEACH!)

Originally Posted by Demidos

isnt fast cast 1 useless??

Nah, there's lots of actions that take a standard action.

Actually, by RAW, you can get a lot of abuse out of spells that have more than a standard action casting time. Like Dominate Person, for the lower end of cheese. You should specify that it only lets you cast spells with a casting time of a standard action as a move action.

Last edited by Jallorn; 2011-05-05 at 11:42 PM.

Originally Posted by Ertier

A good background is like a skirt. Short enough to keep my interest, but long enough to cover the important bits.

Re: [PF Base Class] Red Mage (PEACH!)

Originally Posted by Jallorn

Nah, there's lots of actions that take a standard action.

Actually, by RAW, you can get a lot of abuse out of spells that have more than a standard action casting time. Like Dominate Person, for the lower end of cheese. You should specify that it only lets you cast spells with a casting time of a standard action as a move action.

Good catch! I've changed the original post to reflect that. And yes, there are a lot of things you can do with a standard action that aren't casting a spell. The basic one would be an attack action, but I'm guessing people can come up with lots of interesting ideas.

By the way, what does "RAW" mean?

Ooooh, nice table there. Is there a place where I can just cut and paste information into a premade table, like a template